Apricot Ale | Cascade Brewing / Raccoon Lodge & Brewpub

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Notes / Commercial Description:
This NW style sour blond ale was barrel aged for up to nine months, then aged on fresh apricot for an additional six months. Aromas of sweet apricot blossoms and tart fruit are present as you draw the glass near. Deep, rich apricot flesh, then tart apricot notes dance on the palate and lead to a sweet apricot flesh finish with a lingering fruit tartness.

Reviews by dansmcd:

More User Reviews:

Muchas gracias to Jeff for cracking this with me... I love Cascade sours and apricots, so the combination should be orgasmic. Pale amber and kind of "peachy" all-around; foggy and cloudy throughout the body with only a touch of visibility to the other side of the glass. A nimbus-like head forms and grows quickly, then recedes just as fast to a silky skin atop the apricot brew that lasts for over half the glass. No lacing, no legging.

A fantastic arrangement of fresh, farm-market apricots explode upon bringing my nose to the brew. The fruity elegance is broken up by a solidifying tartness; sour, juicy, and lactic. The sourness seems to grow with each and every successive whiff, as does the acidity. Not much in the way of actual vinegar, but some vinous-oak notes reside faintly in the background. It smells fruity, it smells tart. Now I can only hope it tastes that way, too.

Well, my hopes for a sour beer were certainly met! One sip and I'm already puckering and wincing from the onslaught of lactic and acetic acid. The fruit character is astoundingly tasty, gushing with ripe apricots, lemon-juice, and maybe a hint of white grapes. Cascade Apricot is definitely a bit vinous in flavor, as the oaky and wine-like notes buckle down and start hitting the palate hard. Dry oak, damp hay, must, and horsey-funk are strong in the finish, along with the apricot's kiss of death.

Unlike the nose, the flavor also shows heavy vinegar characteristics, as well as a substantial amount of acidity. The taste is amazing, but this shit will burn a hole in your stomach lining. Granted, I had consumed a few other sour beers before this one, but each sip of Cascade Apricot left a burning feeling in the pit of my gut; I'm sure I was pushing ulcer-like levels of acidity down there.

So juicy, refreshing, and tasty, despite the fierce acidity. I was at such a personal crossroads with myself - so goddamn tasty that I couldn't stop drinking it, but I knew I would pay for each and every sip. WORTH IT. Pretty thick and heavy-bodied for a wild ale, but most of Cascade's offerings seem to be a bit stronger and heavier than those of other brewers. Lively carbonation, slick, wet, and crisp mouth feel.

All around, this is really a fantastic beer. The flavors are great; fruity, juicy, quenching, tart, mildly funky, oaky - complex and refined. Really my only large complaint is the fact that your stomach might have an easier time handling battery acid than this stuff. Although I'm not ready to blame my entire abdominal agony on this beer since it wasn't the only sour of the night, you could definitely feel each sip as it went down. But there's no doubt that I'd gladly suffer for this one again, it's far too tasty to pass up.

It pours a hazy light orange, with lots of visible carbonation, and a pretty big 1.5 inch head, and a little bit of lacing.

This one smells profoundly sour, tons of funk and lactic acid, a bit of vinegar, with a good helping of apricot too.

This is one brow-beating sour. We had West Ashley and Fou Foune in the same night, and this one couldn't hold a candle to either of them, as both were much more subtle than this one. Looking at this one on it's own merits is much better. It's bracingly sour, in every way, I get sour wine, sour apricots, sour oak, and sour lemon, tons of lactic acid, some white wine vinegar, etc. It tastes good, but it's definitely not subtle, or elegant. It's a big brash bruiser of a sour.

This is medium bodied, with a tangy, crisp mouthfeel, and a fairly high level of carbonation. It's a slow sipper due to the intense sourness.

This is a very bold sour, but I do tend to prefer the more nuanced sours.

750ml bottle poured into a small taster glass (almost tulip shaped). This is the 2012 vintage. I feel it worthy to note that the ABV listed for the beer on BeerAdvocate is 8.5%. It is actually 7.4%ABV for the 2012 vintage. No freshness date.

Taste: Strong sourness is upfront and bold. Wave after WAVE of apricot. Definitely a moderate touch of funk in there. I fear the cork bits may be masking some of the flavors and ruining this experience though.

I really enjoyed the look of this beer. Poured into an oversized wine glass. Tons of bubbly white head that stayed throughout me drinking. I would get to the bottom of the glass and still have some of that sticky bubbles at the bottom, each new pour brought more beer, and lots more bubbles. A great peachy-orangy-ambery-yellowy color that I found extremely inviting. Aroma was a bit lack-luster: citrusy acidic tartness with some faint apricot. Taste was a punch in the mouth sour. I found my mouth watering from the aftertaste. Really dry, super tart, and great balanced fruitiness (apricot/kumquat) with some mild woody-spiciness. This beer literally danced around my tongue and had a nice light body without being watery.